Solace
by RonaldAndMione
Summary: The war is finished but memories remain. Ron needs to find comfort.


_I was planning on posting something else today but unfortunately, I lost that story when my computer broke a few weeks ago. I found this on my hard drive, a practise-piece I'd written months ago but hadn't planned on sharing. It's been months since I've posted something though and so I've decided - why not? It's not like I have anything better... or anything else for that matter. I hope you enjoy it anyway. _

_Solace_

He woke abruptly, panting, gasping for life. Sitting up in his bed, he slid the covers off, feeling much too hot – the combination of adrenaline from a nightmare and the summer heat. He glanced over at Harry, sleeping on the other side of the room in his camp bed, lying flat on his back, his left arm hanging down off the bed. He didn't seem to have been disturbed by Ron's sudden awakening. Ron sighed with relief. It was so difficult for them all to get good, solid sleep.

Ron couldn't remember exactly what nightmare had struck this time, but he knew it was horrible. Was it his brother's death, replaying once more, or was it Hermione's torture, her screams echoing in his mind? Was it a combination of both?

It seemed to be. Flashbacks of both those devastating events were striking his panicked mind, mingling together – Fred being tortured, Hermione being killed, and Ginny every now and then narrowly avoiding a green flash of light...

Ron swallowed and breathed out roughly. The visions continued plaguing him as his bare feet hit the floor, the cool surface soothing him somewhat, but not as much as his solace would. Ron walked quietly out of the room, his heart racing, chest heaving. It was as if his feet had a mind of their own and were carrying him to the one thing that could make everything all right again, the one thing that he just needed to see to know that everything was over.

He came to her room, or rather, his sister's room, and paused, his mind finally starting to think rationally. Everything was over. She was sleeping in there and she was fine. If he knocked on the door, she'd wake up, and she deserves a good rest.

_I need to see her_, another part of his mind screamed. _I need to._

Sheer desperation was laced in those thoughts and it seemed as if his whole mind realised it, for it ordered his hand to reach out and turn the door knob to the right. He opened the door slowly, Ron not wanting to wake them up.

The light from the hallway shone into the room. Ron sighed as he made out Hermione's form curved up in her bed.

_There. You came. You saw. Go up to bed and act like nothing happened._

Ron began to listen, starting to close the door once more, before another part of his mind yelled out _wait!_

Ron froze.

_How do you know she's all right? She was really still... what if she wasn't breathing?_

In his head appeared an image of Hermione lying on a cellar floor, _too still... so pale... barely alive... about to die..._

Immediately the door opened completely and Ron raced in, crouching at Hermione's side, shaking her.

"Wake up, Hermione!" he pleaded in a half-whisper. "Wake up! Oh, bloody hell, wake up!"

"_Please wake up, Hermione..." Ron whispered, taking her hand in his as she lay. "Don't leave me... you've scared me enough tonight..." The crashes of the waves outside Shell Cottage were the only things Ron could hear besides his desperate pleas. He needed Hermione's reassuring voice; he needed her... why wasn't she waking up?_

"No!" Ron cried, shaking as Hermione didn't budge. "Hermione, wake up!"

Her eyes fluttered open and she hazily looked around, wondering what had awoken her. Ron sighed again, and immediately reached forward to hug her, burrowing his face between her neck and shoulder. He felt her small arms wrap around him tightly.

"Oh, Ron," she sighed. "It's all right."

Ron swallowed, and held her tighter, wanting to stay there forever. It was exactly as he'd predicted – all the horrible thoughts plaguing him washed away, and all that existed was Hermione and her soft touch and her tickling bushy hair and her hushed words of comfort.

"Bloody hell, I'm sorry I woke you... I dunno what came over me." He truly didn't. One moment he'd been calm, aware that things were over, and the next moment he was back in Malfoy Manor watching her nearly die all over again.

"It's all right," she said again. "You're all right."

"I know, I know," he murmured. "You... you all right?" He pulled his head away from her so that he could look into her eyes. They were soft and filled with wonder.

"_It's okay, it's okay," Ron murmured, rubbing her cold hands soothingly as her eyes slowly opened. "You're all right, you're all right, Hermione. It's all over and there's no way I'm going to let it happen again. Nothing is ever going to happen to you again. Never. You're all right."_

"Yes," she finally said. "I'm all right, too."

Ron took a deep, calming breath, swallowing right after. "We're all right," he said softly to himself.

Hermione smiled at him. "We are."

Ron tilted his head slightly to cast a look at his sister. "She awake?"

Hermione turned to look at her too. "No, I don't think so," she whispered. "She can sleep through anything."

"That's good," Ron said.

"Ron, what happened?" she asked, brushing some of his red hair away from his eyes. Ron savoured her cool touch before replying.

"Just a bad dream," he murmured, closing his eyes.

"What one?" Hermione said. "Do... do you mind? It's good to talk about these things."

"Yeah..." Ron said, though he did not want to talk about it at all. Hermione was waiting for him to answer her, though, so he said, "It was both. I... Fred, he... and you... it was like they mixed together and one minute he was being tortured and then the next minute you'd... you'd just... you fell onto the ground and..." he opened his eyes, as if that would stop the visions from playing in his mind, "bloody hell, Hermione, I can't—"

"Don't," Hermione said, putting a small finger against his lips. "Don't, I'm sorry."

"Don't be," Ron said, kissing her finger ever-so-lightly. "You're amazing."

Hermione smiled softly and leaned forward, taking away her finger from his mouth and closing the small space between them with her lips. Ron kissed her back, allowing all the bad memories to wash away and let his mind fill with Hermione... let her take over every inch of him.

And in that moment, everything was Hermione. Every breath, every touch... everything about him was Hermione. It made sense for him to be so distraught without her – she was a part of him.

It was for this reason that when she pulled away from him, the first words out of his mouth were "Can I stay here tonight?"

It seemed as if Hermione felt the same way as him, because all she did was move the covers off her, allowing him to snuggle in beside her. "Of course," she whispered as she did so, and Ron sighed as his head made contact with her pillow.

"I love you," Ron whispered, simply because she ought to know it.

"I love you, too," Hermione whispered back and snuggled against him. Ron tilted his head towards her, so close that the air they breathed out mingled with each other.

Ron closed his eyes and focused on the feelings Hermione gave him, how relaxed and right he felt when with her like this. He fell asleep within moments, and no more dreams haunted him that night.


End file.
